Watenstedt district moat

The Watenstedt district moat is located near Watenstedt in the Helmstedt district in Lower Saxony . The early Neolithic circular moat from the 5th millennium BC BC has a diameter of about 50 meters and is the northernmost facility of its kind. It is considered the oldest monumental building in today's Lower Saxony.

View of the terrain spur with the Watenstedt district moat from the south (August 2019)

description

The circular moat is located on a spur that protrudes into the plain of the Great Bruch and allows a wide view to the south. It is located on the western edge of the Heeseberg elevation a few hundred meters west of the Hünenburg near Watenstedt , which was built over 3500 years later during the Bronze Age around 1100 BC. Was created.

The trench of the facility was over a meter deep and almost two meters wide. At one point there was an entrance situation. Inside the moat, two palisade ditches with a diameter of around 46 and 38 meters can be verified. Openings and passages in the palisades were oriented in different directions. Ceramic and bone fragments lay in the trench filling. The ceramic parts belonged to fights , bowls and mugs. They had three-dimensional decorative elements through stitch ribbons. At one point on the bottom of the trench there was a halved cattle skull covered with a stone, which is viewed as a landfill.

Research history and evaluation

The terrain spur with the circular moat from the east, behind it Watenstedt, seen from the Hünenburg near Watenstedt (2019)

When prospecting the site, scientists from the Department of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Göttingen evaluated aerial photographs and carried out geomagnetic studies. In 2015, a six-week excavation was carried out by a 15-person excavation team, during which part of the former circular trench was exposed. Another excavation took place in 2016.

The development of the circular moat system is in the 48th century BC. And their task in the 46th century BC Dated. The dating is based on age determinations on bones from the trench filling by means of the radiocarbon method and on the basis of the vessel fragments of the stitch band ceramic . The facility is located on the northernmost edge of the expansion of agriculture and livestock during this period.

The archaeologist who was in charge of the investigations, Immo Heske from the Department of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Göttingen, excludes that the circular moat was used as a fortification due to the interruptions in the structure. In his estimation, the facility served as a meeting place or for observing the solstice and the stars. It represents the oldest monumental building in Lower Saxony. Why the site near Watenstedt has been abandoned is still unclear. There are constructive similarities to the Goseck district ditch in Saxony-Anhalt and the Dresden-Nickern district ditch in Saxony.

literature

• Immo Heske: ears of corn or stars: a circular ditch system of stitch band ceramics in: Archeology in Lower Saxony , 2016, pp. 104-107
• Immo Heske, Martin Posselt The most northerly circular moat system for stitch band ceramics. Preliminary report on the excavations near Watenstedt (district of Helmstedt) in the years 2015-2016 in: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt , Volume 47, Issue 3, 2017, pp. 291-317 ( online )

Web links

Commons : Kreisgrabenanlage von Watenstedt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The oldest monumental building in Lower Saxony discovered , press release of the University of Göttingen No. 264/2015 from November 5, 2015
• The oldest monumental building in Lower Saxony discovered at: scinexx on November 5, 2015
• Oldest monumental building in the country discovered ( memento from November 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at NDR .de from November 5, 2015
• Trench system: remains of the oldest monumental building discovered at HNA.de on November 5, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephan Stegmann: Archaeologists uncover ditches from the Stone Age in: Helmstedter Nachrichten of November 10, 2015.
2. ↑ Göttingen archaeologists discover the oldest monumental building in Lower Saxony in: Göttinger Tageblatt from November 5, 2015
3. ↑ Shooting on archaeological excavation areas in Watenbüttel at regionalWeltenbütel.de on August 4, 2016
4. ↑ 7000 year old large structure discovered in: Die Welt on November 5, 2015.
5. ↑ The oldest monumental building in Lower Saxony discovered at: Archeology online from November 6, 2015.

Coordinates: 52 ° 5 ′ 18 ″  N , 10 ° 50 ′ 31 ″  E